


don't you worry, i'm just being cool (like everybody else around this school)

by leifstroganoff



Series: i like the old days, but not all the old days [3]
Category: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drinking, F/M, M/M, i mentioned glen and sam but they dont count, idk what else to tag this as honestly im just vibing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24744772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leifstroganoff/pseuds/leifstroganoff
Summary: “I am victorious, I am the smartest person alive, I will change the world,” Tobin doesn’t know why he’s surprised when Leif bursts through Max’s apartment door, an hour into one of their ‘club hangouts’, with the dumbest grin on his face, spouting every arrogant self-compliment he can.
Relationships: Tobin Batra/Leif Donnelly, ot3 if u squint
Series: i like the old days, but not all the old days [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785175
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	don't you worry, i'm just being cool (like everybody else around this school)

**Author's Note:**

> this one has a lot of callbacks to the other two oneshots but i think it can still stand on it's own w/o reading the other two (but you should still read the first two bc im proud of them jgfkjf) 
> 
> really this one is just a less angsty one in the college verse something fun and upbeat and only abt half of my reasoning for writing it was bc i miss playing drinking games w my friends (if youve not heard of tablero and you find yourself rlly confused at any point you can google it and the rules are online its just the most complicated nerdiest drinking game that me and my friends play a lot and i figured 'of course these nerds would play it')
> 
> also both this title and the last one are from sin triangle by sidney gish and its a very good song

“I am victorious, I am the smartest person alive, I _will_ change the world,” Tobin doesn’t know why he’s surprised when Leif bursts through Max’s apartment door, an hour into one of their ‘club hangouts’, with the dumbest grin on his face, spouting every arrogant self-compliment he can. 

“And Leif’s _back,_ fellas - can I get you a drink?” Max thumps Leif’s chest as he comes all the way into the room, locking eyes with Tobin where he’s sitting next to Autumn on the couch; it’s nice to see him smile this big again. 

“No need, I drink only from the keg of glory, my friend - bring me the finest muffins and bagels in the land.” His arms slings around Max, a move he definitely wouldn’t usually take (it’s not like they’re actually close, despite how intertwined their friend group seems to be), but one that Max doesn’t seem to take any issues with. “No, seriously, I need carbs, I am playing a celebratory round of Tablero tonight, because _not only_ did I _pass_ Literature, I passed it well enough to maintain a 3.8. I, my wonderful, smart, supportive, nerd-ass, rag-tag group of friends, am _not_ getting cut off by my parents. Who’s playing?” 

Tobin’s about to volunteer himself (he doesn’t really wanna subject anybody else to being Leif’s opponent here, he can get _intense_ in games like this, especially with the manic mood he’s seemed to transition to), when Autumn stands up from next to him and says ‘I’ll play’. 

“Whoa, dude, are you sure? Leif’s, uh, _really good_ at Tablero and I don’t think you’ve ever played.” 

“What better way to learn?” Autumn smiles and wiggles her eyebrows and Tobin pushes down the small pit of worry, opting instead to just watch the game and hope his friends have fun. “Besides, I think I’ve watched you guys play _quite enough_ to get it.” Regardless, he’s more than glad to see that Leif has made a firm exit from his self-destructive spiral and that he’s feeling okay again, boasting and laughing with friends. 

“Alright, alright, Max - can you make us four of the absolute shittiest drinks you can? I don’t care what’s in ‘em, but they better not taste good, on God.” Leif is pointing towards the kitchen spouting off instructions to the three people listening to him (there are other club members at the party, namely Max’s roommates, but they’re playing a game on the TV and he doesn’t really think they care at all about his celebratory ‘my parents aren’t cutting me off’ game). “Tobin, do us the honor of being our Queen?”

“Oh, I am _honored,_ it would be my pleasure.” Leif strides over to where Max keeps the seven by seven wooden board and set of d6’s, setting them down on the table that’s technically in the ‘dining area’ of the apartment (but, really, the apartment is so small, it’s just the living room). “Y’all best worship me!” 

Max comes back into the room with four mixed drinks of relatively equal strength and, more importantly, equally bad ingredients. 

“You asked for shitty, shitty you shall receive. Good luck.” 

Max steps back into the kitchen to grab seven shot glasses, setting three down on Leif’s side of the board, three down on Autumn’s, and the last one in the direct middle of the board.

“Alright, Tobes, roll those dice. But I swear to god if you roll a switch-number, I’m breaking up with you.” 

Tobin laughs, all but knowing he would never follow through on the threat (or, at least, not for such a petty reason). He rolls the dice and smiles when it’s a four, gesturing in front of him to behold the number.

“Queen’s number is four. If either of you forget, I’m terminating our lease for next year.”

“Alright, now - initiative.” 

Leif grabs the dice from where Tobin rolled them, immediately rolling them again and cheering when he rolls a ten. 

“Ha, beat that.”

_“Watch me.”_

Autumn’s smile is just as big, friendly competition already wafting through the air of the shitty college apartment. She rolls the dice and has to let out a laugh when the dice end up on a six and a five.

“Eleven, sucker.” 

“Okay, okay,” Leif puts his hands up in mock surrender before gesturing towards the shot glasses before using his drink to fill the three on his side as Autumn does the same. “Pick who goes first.”

“I think… I will go first.” She smiles, pouring her own drink into the shot glass in the middle before rolling the dice again and making the corresponding move. Several rolls later, she is _dangerously_ close to scoring a grand tablero when she rolls a seven and groans, handing the dice across the table to Leif. 

“You’ve set me up for success. You’ve done this to yourself.” He rolls the dice with a smug smile, which fades immediately when he rolls an eleven and has to push the dice back over to Autumn’s side of the table.

“Aw, you spoke too soon.” She rolls the dice with a fake pout, watching carefully as they roll to land on a double two. “Oh, hail to the freakin’ queen!” She picks up a shot glass, gesturing it towards Tobin, who basks in the toast before downing it and placing it on Leif’s side of the board for him to fill. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but as soon as you’ve filled that, two moves of two is exactly what I need for a grand tablero. I am… the grandest at Tablero, you’re going down, Donnelly.”

She makes the move, lining all seven shot glasses in a row and dramatically bowing towards Tobin.

“This one’s for the queen and the queen only, for his majesty, who I know is rooting for Leif, but should bestow me with a blessing, anyways.” 

“Consider yourself blessed, the queen is impartial! Even if one of the players does have a better ass and lets me nap on his bed when I should be ‘doing homework’ and ‘passing my classes’.” 

Autumn laughs again, taking four of the shot glasses and pushing the other three towards Leif.

“If I understand correctly, it’s customary for the Tablero-er to give the Tablero-ee at least one, so I vote we go splitsies.” 

“Splitsies it is. Walrus?” 

_“Walrus.”_

They each pick up two shot glasses, clinking them together before bringing them in and taking them at the same time. 

“ _Oh,_ ew, Max, you delivered on the shitty. What the fuck is in this?” 

“Well, if it’s the drink you poured from, I call that ‘Cherry Bonanza” and it is, uh, cherry vodka, banana rum, and whatever soda was sitting next to them. If it’s Autumn’s, I call that ‘bad wine’, and it’s, uh… it’s just not good, I’ll leave it at that.” 

With a laugh and a nod to Max, they take the rest of the shots and then the dice move to Leif.

The game goes on _far longer_ than it probably should, Zoey and Simon show up about halfway through, when they’ve both drained one of their cups, but Autumn still has far more liquid left in hers. The few people watching the game are watching with bated breath as Autumn sets up the ever-rare, ever-impressive diagonal Tablero, every dice roll moving closer to exactly what she needs.

“Tobin, my queen, my liege,” Autumn fakes a bow towards him, eliciting a laugh as he sips from the drink in his hand. “Please blow on my dice, I need snake eyes.” 

“Gladly, my loyal, royal subject.” He blows on the dice and everybody (everybody now including Autumn, Leif, Tobin, Max, Zoey, and Simon) watches as they roll; half of the crowd lets out a boo when she rolls an eleven. “The queen may not be as impartial as he led you to believe.” 

Leif smiles at Tobin before taking the dice in his own hands and blowing on them himself. “Come on, snake eyes.”

The dice roll again and he jumps back with a cheer, pumping his fist in the air. “Diagonal tablero!” He makes an air horn sound with his mouth like an absolute doofus and considers that _maybe_ asking Max to make the drinks had been a mistake after experiencing the head rush that came along with moving backwards. “I will take the half that I am allotted and, uh, one for Autumn, one for _the queen,_ anyone else want a shot?” He gestures around with the last shot glass after handing them all out and hands it to Zoey when she raises her hand. “To the queen!”

‘To the queen’ is echoed throughout the six of them, as everybody with a shot takes it (and as Leif takes the other three that are required of him) and places it on Autumn’s side of the board, where she fills all seven. She looks up at Leif’s smug smile and only kinda wants to smack it off him (at least he’s smiling at all, she notes). 

“The game’s not over, yet, Donnelly, there’s still liquid in this cup. One tablero, one queen’s number, you’re done.” 

“Bring it.” 

The dice are in Autumn’s control again, the rolls of fate. A one and two. A six and a four. A three and a two. And then a one and a three and _boom_.

“Hail to the freakin’ queen, his majesty, one of my nearest and dearest, Tobin Batra!” Autumn grabs a glass, raising it towards Tobin and downing it quickly, placing it on Leif’s side of the board, where he goes to refill it with only enough liquid to fill it a fourth of the way. 

“And we have a victor!” Max gestures towards Autumn, where she bows for what feels like the millionth time in one night, but the many, many shots of shitty mixed drinks make it almost impossible to care.

“Six full shots, two players and four dedicated onlookers? Does anybody _not_ want a shot?” Autumn glances around where nobody objects and hands everybody one shot. She takes the chance to glance at Leif, whose face is lit up in possibly the dumbest smile she’s ever seen. She expected him to be at least a little bitter, caught up in the competition of the game (he’s always been both a sore loser and a sore winner), but what she sees is a man who’s just _happy_. Happy to be passing, happy to have not disappointed his family, happy to be with friends, happy to be _happy._

After everybody takes their shot, Max, Zoey, and Simon go into the kitchen, saying something about a plan to make drunk cookies, something Autumn does not want to be a part of, if only to avoid the fire risk. Instead, she finds a lanky body scooting next to hers and throwing an arm around her much shorter frame.

“We… should sit down, Max gave us so much alcohol in those shitty, shitty drinks.” Leif’s voice is still strong, despite the slurring around the edges. “C’mon,” He grabs her hand, which she really did not expect.

“As you wish,” He’s pulling her towards the couch, which he immediately falls onto, pulling her with him (Tobin sits on the other couch, content to watch Glen and Sam play Drunk Super Smash Bros for a while). 

“I’m glad you’re passing,” He’s put his left arm around the back of the couch now, resting his head on her shoulder in an angle that she really thinks cannot, in any way, be comfortable for him; but he looks content, a small ‘mmhm’ coming up from his throat to confirm that he, too, is glad he’s passing. “Is that what your little disappearing act was about the other week? Scared about failing?”

“Hm, _disappearing act,”_ His eyes are closed now and the small smile’s no longer there, but he’s not moved from her shoulder as he lets out a small huff of a laugh. “That’s one way to put that.” 

“Would you put it another way?”

“Being a shitty friend?”

“ _No_ ,” Autumn’s voice is admonishing, grabbing the hand that’s not hanging over her shoulder and holding it in her left hand, intertwining their fingers. “I like disappearing act better, gives it an air of mystery.” 

“Autumn,” He separates their fingers almost as soon as they’re together, pulling his arm away and taking his head off of her shoulder. “Don’t.” 

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t…” He rubs the bridge of his nose, trying to sober up a little bit and get his mind back from the haziness it’s become. “Don’t absolve me of blame. I was _being a bad friend_ , no ifs, ands, or buts. I made you worry for no reason, and -”

“Hey, _no,_ stop that. Yes, I was worried, it was _not_ for no reason. Yes, you didn’t handle it very well and yes, we want you to take care of yourself, but you’re not… You deserve…” Her train of thought is having a very hard time staying in ‘serious-town’ right now with the game of Tablero catching up to her. “You’re not a bad friend, Leif. You…” Her finger finds its way to boop his nose. “Are one of the best friends I’ve ever had. Don’t fight me on this.” She grabs his hand again, rubbing circles on the back of it with her thumb. “So, I’m not gonna let you get in your own head right now. I love you, like a lot, and tonight has been so fun, and you _deserve_ to feel good for a little bit, don’t you?”

She looks up from where she’s been focused on their hands to see a tear falling down his face which he quickly wipes away, turning his head away in the process. 

“I didn’t mean to -”

“No, no, you’re… god, you’re fine.” He sniffles and wipes under his nose, finally looking back over at her. “That’s… That’s really nice, thank you.” 

“What do you say,” Her phrase is interrupted with a yawn. “We grab Tobin, get outta here, go back to your apartment, and watch whatever shitty movie you guys wanna? Top a good night off?”

He looks around at the rest of the apartment, guys playing games on the couch, Zoey, Max, and Simon “baking” cookies in the kitchen (if you count Zoey flinging flour at both of the boys as baking, anyways), he can hear two people having a seemingly deep conversation on the floor outside of one of the bathrooms; and he decides that the only thing he really _does_ wanna do is exactly what Autumn said. 

“That sounds…” He squeezes her hand before moving forward to get up. “Absolutely delightful.”

So, they grab Tobin, go home, and watch the first Bring it On (‘because we can’t watch the second one, guys, it’s just not as good, you know ya boy Tobin has _taste’_ ) and if Leif falls asleep on Autumn’s shoulder 20 minutes in, that’s just between them. And furthermore, if the three of them all ended up sleeping in the same bed that night, pressed close together, that’s nobody's business but their own.

**Author's Note:**

> as always comments give me serotonin and so much validation


End file.
